Tanya Fox, editor, and Brooke Smith, managing editor, are the editorial team behind CardMaker magazine. When not reviewing design submissions and planning future issues of the magazine and pattern books, they can often be found exploring websites for inspiration and visiting their favorite local coffee shop.

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Hello everyone! Pamela here today to share one of my favorite card-making techniques—window cards! They are much easier to create than they appear, but I think we should keep that part just among ourselves here. One tip before I begin sharing the step-by-steps of my sample card is that I highly recommend using a heavy-weight cardstock for your card base. This is especially helpful for stability if your window is large like mine.

4. Die-cut a heart frame from white cardstock by using two heart dies together. To create this frame, I nested a solid-edge heart die inside a scallop-edge heart die, secured them together with tape and ran them through the die-cutting machine.

5. Die-cut a star from white cardstock. Clip away star to use in another project. Tip: If you don’t have this specific die, there are many frilly-vine dies that would work well. Adhere tail to heart frame as shown below. Adhere pearls as shown. Use small pieces of foam tape to adhere frame to card front.

6. Using the hearts set aside from step 3, heat-emboss sentiment onto white heart with red ink. Offset red heart slightly behind white heart as shown. Tip: My elegant-style card calls for a heat-embossed sentiment. If your card is not so fancy, you could stamp your sentiment with dye ink or chalk.

7. Before adhering stamped heart in place, align it with window as desired. Sign back of card and you’re done! Tip: After a few people asked me to sign the back of my card before they framed them, I started signing all my cards. It’s pretty awesome when people frame your cards.

Bonus Card

I have a bonus card for you! Window cards come together quickly if you use punches like I have here on this bonus card. Plus, it’s a one-layer card which is a rarity for me.

I used a 1 1/4-inch-square punch to make three windows on a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4-inch card. I punched a strip of lattice trim and adhered it behind the windows. Tip: You could also use vellum or another lacy paper instead of trim. Or, you could make frames if you have two sizes of punches. You’ll notice I used the frilly tail again from the star die. It was silver this time. I love that tail! I finished up by heat-embossing the sentiment with pink ink.

I’ve enjoyed sharing my cards with you today. I would love to see the window cards you create and hear any tips you might have for this fun technique.

I can hardly wait to show what I have up my sleeve for my next post. It will give a whole new life to many of your punches and stamps. It is something I learned years ago in my college art class.

16 Responses to Pamela’s Technique of the Week: Window Cards

I love your heart card….red and yellow are my two fav colors, so Valentine’s Day is fun for me to get to use so much red. I, too, sign the back of all my cards. I have a small custom stamp and then I initial and date under that on the back of every card or project. My Sister In Law has framed all my cards I’ve sent to her and she has quite a wall in her dining room…my BIL texted me a recent pic and I was dumb founded they had done that…and quite honored. I have friends who have told me they have framed some of my 2-D cards in shadow box frames. I am really not a natural talent, so you can only imagine how nice it felt to learn this. Anyway…love what you posted…always fun and inspirational.

Jan, thanks so much for your kind words about my card.
What a wonderful thing to have your sister-in-law frame your cards! It is so nice when someone you love recognizes the art in your work. Do you ever submit to challenges? There are some fun challenges here on CardMakers site and elsewhere on the web.